Windows Server Active Directory Powershell Microsoft Exchange

Building an Exchange 2013 LAB Environment using Windows Server 2012

Andy Grogan

In the previous two parts of this series I took you through building a Windows 2012 server on Hyper-V Server and then in the second part took you through the process of installing Active Directory Domain Services.

In this part of the series I would like to take you through the process of installing and configuring Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services on your domain controller.

By the end of this article, our test lab will be one fourth complete – and looks like the following schematic:

Active Directory flowchart

You might be thinking – Andy, why are we installing this? Well the answer is simple: in our end Exchange 2013 test lab we are going want some SSL certificates generated for the OWA and Autodiscover services, rather than the self signed ones that are assigned after Exchange setup. Within the domain environment that we create; any SSL certificates that are generated from the Enterprise Root CA will be automatically trusted by the Exchange Servers and clients within that domain.

This means that we can generate as many certificates with as many Subject Alternative Names (SAN’s) as we like, without having to invest in any commercial certificates. If you should wish to install commercial certificates, you can skip this part and move onto part 4 when it is released.

Installing the Enterprise Root CAS

Rather than screenshot the entire process of configuring Active Directory Certificate Services – I thought that it would be easier to put together a quick video overview which is located below. Follow the steps outlined in the video overview customising them where needed to suit your own needs.

Within the video there is a Powershell script which is used to install the Certificate Service binaries – below you will see the script:

Andy3.2

In the next part of this blog, I will cover the build of you Exchange 2013 Servers on Windows 2012 and explain the various prerequisites that you will need for a successful install.

Andy Grogan

Andy Grogan [ MVP (Exchange) ]Andy is an experienced senior IT professional who is comfortable managing both large, complex technical IT environments and operating at the strategic IT direction level. He has a strong background in 3rd tier technical, data center operations management and solution design which has been built up over 16 years of experience within the IT industry in both private and public sectors - working with many frameworks and disciplines. During his career, Andy has held roles ranging from 1st and 2nd line support, head of 3rd line operations, and head of technical services all the way through head of IT. Holding such a diverse array of positions has given him a deep understanding not only of how IT organizations work from the ground level up, but how they can and should operate delivering quality services to the businesses which they support. Andy has a demonstrable track record in the design, sourcing, project management and implementation of large scale technical projects and a very eclectic technical experience base, founded predominately in Microsoft technologies (Exchange, AD, SQL, SCOM, Windows Server). He has also worked with or managed the delivery of IBM (storage, P-Series and TSM), HP (servers and storage), Cisco (routers, switches, firewalls, IPT), VMWare (ESX, ESXi,VSphere), Citrix(MetaFrame,XPe,PS4,XenApp) and Data Center / IT operations management. Andy is a 4-time recipient of Microsoft’s Most Valued Professional award for Exchange Server (2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012), and a well-known author within the international Exchange community, writing content for sites such as TechTarget, MSExchange.org, ENow and his own personal site telnetport25.com.